Brainiacs from Mars want to land in Whitinsville. They come in peace, with paint and mortgage payments.

BrainiacsfromMars.com is a California-based marketing company that offers to turn a home into a painted billboard advertising for Brainiacs from Mars for up to a year, and in exchange, the company will pay the mortgage for every month the home hosts the advertisement. Homeowners from California to New York have accepted the offer, and now the company has specifically zoomed in on the Whitinsville section of town, saying the demographics of the area make them believe they can make a difference in the lives of locals.

However, whether the idea is one that is compatible with local regulations remains to be seen, despite the good intentions behind the project.

Romeo Mendoza is the president of Brainiacs from Mars and said he developed the idea while driving his daughter home from school in Anaheim, Calif., nearly two years ago.

“I was picking my daughter up from school and on the way home she saw a sign on a home that said ‘foreclosure,’ ” Mr. Mendoza said. “That’s nothing you want to explain to a 7-year-old. So I explained it to her, but being a dad, I didn’t want to just leave it at that; I wanted to turn a negative into a positive.”

As a marketing executive, his company is in the business of buying ads all the time, and then it clicked.

“I thought, what if we buy an ad on this guy’s house and in return pay the mortgage?” Mr. Mendoza said.

The plan to turn homes into billboards to pay the mortgage was announced in California in 2010, but the first house wasn’t painted until April 2011, and the company was inundated with applications and has since been featured on national broadcasts such as on CNN.

To date, Brainiacs from Mars has been contacted by 41,124 homeowners, 37 schools, 24 churches and 85 restaurants across the country. The goal is to paint 3,000 homes starting in January 2013, a project to be funded from the revenue generated from the advertisements as well as $925,000 raised from a crowd-funding website, www.indiegogo.com/brainiacs. Those who donate on the site will be able to vote to select the deserving homes.

Brainiacs from Mars has painted homes in Tampa, Fla., Phoenix, and Brooklyn, N.Y.; and has already received six applications from Whitinsville. A local home has not yet been chosen.

However, Northbridge Building Inspector James S. Sheehan Jr. said on the surface it may not be as simple as a new paint job. By turning a home into an advertisement, it may conflict with the town’s sign regulations that only allow a maximum of 2 square-feet of signs — whether it be for a home occupation or other entity.

“I think this might be a violation of that,” Mr. Sheehan said, adding the company should check local regulations. “I find it hard to believe that there hasn’t been an issue in another town where they have painted a house an off color.”

The offer is only open to homeowners and if their application is selected, they agree to allow a painting company hired by Brainiacs from Mars to paint the exterior of their home — minus the roof, windows and awnings — broccoli green and sunrise orange with an ad for Brainiacs from Mars up to one year. Painting lasts between three and five days, and at the end of the agreement, Brainiacs from Mars will return the home to any color the homeowner chooses.

“By putting an ad up, they are attracting business to us, and in return we are giving it back to them,” Mr. Mendoza said.

The only criteria is that only a homeowner can apply, and that homeowner must have a compelling story.

“With so many applications, we really go by the story,” Mr. Mendoza said. “What is compelling, is this family deserving, and most importantly does it feel right?”

The main goal is help the homeowner, but also to bring attention to the housing crisis.

“Our ultimate goal is to just get the conversation started,” Mr. Mendoza said.